Mercedes-Benz USA has settled on the City of Grapevine, Texas, in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, for the site of its new Parts Distribution Center (PDC) and Learning Performance Center (LPC). Seefried Industrial Properties Inc. and partner FRAPAG will develop the facilities, which will total 313,000 square feet, and sell them to the automobile manufacturer upon completion.

Seefried and European capital company FRAPAG will build the facilities on 30 acres owned by the City of Grapevine. MBUSA will utilize the 254,000-square-foot PDC to support the sales and distribution of spare parts to its customers and dealer network. The LPC, currently located in Houston, will be a 59,000-square-foot, high-end technical facility for the ongoing training of the company’s technicians in the Southwest region.

“The decision to move our parts distribution and training centers to Grapevine, north of Dallas/Fort Worth, was based on our growth expectations, customer demand, supporting community infrastructure and larger corporate strategy,” an MBUSA spokesperson told CPE. “Proximity to major roadways and airports is beneficial to parts supply chain management, and adds a level of travel convenience for our customers transiting to and from our centers. By consolidating our training and parts distribution centers near Fort Worth, we are better equipped to meet our customers training needs.”

Seefried will be working with old friends on the MBUSA project; The real estate company has history with the City, having developed the highly successful, 100-percent leased Northfield Distribution Center, an approximately 800,000-square-foot, multi-structure industrial property. Additionally, Seefried and FRAPAG have a longstanding relationship and have partnered on a bevy of endeavors in the past.

Seefried expects to complete the permitting process for the MBUSA development in February 2016, and if all goes as planned, construction will commence the following month with an anticipated completion date in January 2017. Full operations are set to begin March 1, 2017.

Grapevine is accustomed to having big-ticket businesses in its midst. The City is home to the likes of multi-channel video game and consumer electronics retailer, GameStop Corp., a Fortune 500 company. And it’s not just American companies that have a Grapevine address. Kubota Tractor Corp., the U.S. subsidiary of Japan-based Kubota Corp., broke ground on a 200,000-square-foot office and R&D facility project in October 2015.

As Bob Farley, economic development director for the City of Grapevine, said the MBUSA project is “yet another example of international corporate interest in Grapevine and the Metroplex.”